A Cliched Love Story
by Hasan Saeed
Summary: AU, No magic. Mentions of Harry/Susan. Final pairing Harry/Daphne. "I have loved to the point of madness; that which is called madness, that which to me, is perhaps the only sensible way to love..."


An Untitled story

In the end it didn't matter thought Harry glumly he had tried really tried but maybe it wasn't meant to be. It was fates way of telling him that he would always be its bitch, no matter what he did fate would send him tumbling down to the dark abyss. He threw the bouquet into a nearby trash can and walked aimlessly out of the terminal with no desDaphnetion in mind, trying to clear his mind. The dreary weather further compounded his misery and as he thought this day couldn't get any worse it started raining mercilessly, forced to take cover he entered the nearest building he could find. The building that he had taken shelter in on further inspection turned out to old fashioned pub. With nothing else he sat down as the bar and ordered a scotch on the rocks, as the bartender was pouring the drink Harry snatched the bottle intending to drown his sorrows with its help.  
The bartender made to grab the the bottle from Harry and give him the thrashing of his life but one look at the man's face made him pause. He asked Harry "mate, you look like hell, what seems to be the problem maybe I could help you out", Harry snorted and replied "you really think you could help me no can help me" as he swallowed a large mouthful of the scotch. The bartender smiled good naturedly and said "you are not the first person to walk into my establishment with problems as a bartender I do listen to people complain about their problems I try to give them advice , so tell me what is the problem and the names Rick". Harry contemplated and took a deep breath before starting "There is a girl", Rick snorted "it's always about a girl, wars have started over love". Harry glared and started again "her name is Daphne and for me she is the most gorgeous woman on earth, I know I know that ever man who has fallen heads over heel for someone has said the same but you have to believe me. Wherever she went heads would turn and men would go gaga over her. She was the only shining light in my miserable life and I took her for granted". Rick nodded knowingly "so what happened?" as he helped himself to the scotch bottle between them. Harry started his sad tale again "We were never together together you know she was my best friend, confidant, people mistook our closeness for a relationship. My own insecurities stopped me from taking the relationship to a next level, after everything that happened in my life I was afraid of commitment fearing that if she didn't reciprocate my feelings or if it didn't work out I wouldn't survive and I was a fool, I realized too late how much she meant to me". "So what happened" asked Rick as felt pity for the young man sitting in front of him. Harry had a faraway look as he started again "she got a job offer in another city that she couldn't turn down. When she was leaving did I realize how much she meant to me, I know how clichéd this sounds I chased her to the airport hoping against hope that I would reach her in time but alas I was too late her plane had already left and that is my sorry tale". Rick than asked how did the two of you meet while pouring some more scotch for himself, Harry replied in elementary. She was my first friend and in fact my only friend, I was the son of a deadbeat man who only drank and a mother who had died while giving birth to me. No one wanted to do anything with me and when Daphne moved to the school there were seat empty all over the class but she sat next me. When she sat next to me I was shocked is the understatement of the century no one wanted to do anything with me and the new girl wants to sit next to the loser of the class. She shyly said to me H…I m..y….my name is Ti…na Daphne Brown, I sat their gob smacked after looking at her what seemed an eternity I replied My name is Harry O' Connell and I asked her why do you want to sit with me I am a loser no one wants to be friends with me. She looked oddly at me and replied Silly everyone has friends, I replied not me and she uttered the words that would change my life she said I would like to be your friend, I replied shell-shocked a…are yo….you s…ee….Serious she replied yes, I can swear a pinky promise my mummy told me that a pinkie promise can never be broken. I held out my pinkie and we made the promise. Harry by now had started rambling we became as thick as thieves we played together all the time, I spent most of the time at her house to avoid my father he was good for nothing always drinking and blaming me for the death of my mother. The browns welcomed me with open arms, you know they became the parents I had always wants, they helped me get over some of my insecurities and I was able to make new friends. My friendship with Daphne also blossomed, I was able to make new friends but they were never as close to me as Daphne maybe because Daphne was special. In high school we started dating other people for the first time, when I saw her with another guy I was jealous as hell it was like that I wanted to murder the guy. I put this down as jealousy because I was used to spending time with her and now she was spending all her time with another guy, when he broke her heart I am ashamed to say I felt elated and sad for her. Sad because her heart had been broken and elated well because she was back to being my Daphne, I consoled her and she was soon back on her feet. I dated casually nothing too serious, sure I had made some friends but due to my father people were wary of me. We graduated with honors and went our separate ways she wanted to be a doctor so off she went to a college in another state while I stayed close to home majoring in computer and software engineering hoping to open my software company. We kept in touch over the phone and occasionally meeting over the holidays, at the college she met a guy and they were pretty serious. After hearing about this I went spiraling down into the figurative abyss, my grades fell and I became withdrawn like my father I too started drinking during one of my binges I met another girl named Susan Bones we hit it off as soon as we met. We became serious, I told her everything about my life and Daphne and told her that I was over her she believed me. We dated throughout college, I bought a ring intending to pop the question on the night we graduated I had planned the whole thing out. A romantic dinner, a stroll through the park , the whole nine yards I had even asked her parents for permission. My father who had cleaned up his act also liked her and the most important person in my life Daphne got along with her fine that sealed the deal for me. I knew it was too good to be true and I was right it all came crashing down soon enough, apparently Susan had been cheating on me I was devasted. Harry paused for a moment to gather his thoughts and started again Daphne and surprisingly my Father helped me pick up the pieces. Daphne had broken up with the guy who she had been seeing throughout college, we consoled each other and at that moment when she was crying in my arms I had an epiphany that I Harry O' Connell was irreversibly and irrevocably in love with Daphne Greengrass but I was too scared to act.  
We both graduated from our respective colleges and while I started working on the programme I had devolved in college, Daphne started looking for an internship. I knew she was going to leave soon and I had to act sooner or later but every time I built up my courage to confess fate would intervene. She called to ask me out to dinner two weeks ago, I knew it was now or never I practiced the speech in front of the mirror over and over again. As soon as we sat down she dropped a bombshell that she was moving to another state, she had been offered an internship at the most prestigious hospital in the country and at that moment I gave up knowing it was a lost cause. I looked happy for her even as my heart shattered to a thousand pieces, I helped her pack and on the day she left I made an excuse of not being able to see her off. As I sat in my apartment having given up , it was my father of all people who knocked some sense into me. He came into my apartment and said son, why are you letting her slip through your fingers. I tried to play dumb as I replied who dad and he said don't play dumb with me go after her and tell how you feel before it's too late. So off I went to confess to Daphne the first stop was her house, her parents told me that she had already left and smiled knowingly before I left I am pretty sure I heard her mother say go get her. I reached the airport and raced towards the terminal but alas I was too late and here I am a few hours later telling you my sob story so Rick got any advice for me. Rick said three words that left Harry gob smacked go after her, Harry replied are you out of your mind, she is another state and maybe she doesn't love me. Rick smiled knowingly and said so what you love her and may be does or maybe she doesn't but you have to take the chance or you would regret this for the rest your life. I didn't take my chance and I have been regretting it for the rest of my life but that story is for another time. The truth is nothing lasts forever. So live it up, drink it down, laugh it out, avoid the bullshit, take chances, and never have regrets. Everything in life requires something compassion requires risk. Love requires sacrifice. You'll never have everything unless you're willing to lose it all. So take the next available flight out of here and go after her and as the great Bob Marley said "If she's amazing, she won't be easy. If she's easy, she won't be amazing. If she's worth it, you won't give up. If you give up, you're not worthy. ... Truth is, everybody is going to hurt you; you just got to find the ones worth suffering for." So go and Harry after hearing all this got up and said yes I will do exactly this. He tried to reach for his wallets before Rick replied it's on the house and you are wasting time go after her. Harry before nodding thanks ran out as fast as his legs could carry him. Rick watched on with a small smile on his face as Harry ran out of the pub and Rick went back to tending the bar humming a happy tune. 

Harry ran out onto the street and saw that the rain had finished. People were on the move again and Harry quickly with a plan in mind whipped out his phone and called the first airline he could think of to book a flight to the city where Daphne had gone but alas there were no seats available dejected he tried another and then another to try and book a flight but to no avail. Not wanting to give up, Harry in a moment of inspiration hailed a taxi and quickly raced home. After reaching his place, he haphazardly packed his clothes into a suitcase and rushed to his car. Quickly placing the suitcase into the boot, he reversed it out of the drive way and raced towards the highway. Soon, Darkness fell but Harry undeterred kept going not wanting to lose a single moment drove on. As dawn approached he entered the city and made way to the hotel he knew she would be staying. He entered the hotel and made a bee line for the reception desk. The attendant looked sleepy and greeted Harry "May I help you, Sir" Harry replied "Could you please tell me in which room is Daphne Brown staying. "Sorry sir, we don't divulge that information to anyone. We pride ourselves on the privacy of our Customer". Harry replied "it's a matter of emergency", the attendant was going to say something else but taking pity on Harry "Sir, I can call her room and tell her that someone wants to see her". Perking up Harry said "that would be great could you please tell her that Harry wants to see her, it's an emergency". "Sure sir, if you could wait in the lobby". Harry scurried to the lobby and waited for what seemed to be an eternity and then she came. For Harry she was the epitome of beauty, her hair all tussled up, her eyes droopy and the sleeping robe hiding her fantastic figure. Harry kept on looking at her gob smacked, Daphne broke the silence and said "Harry what are you doing here? Is everything okay, the attendant said it was an emergency? Harry…. Harry drank her beauty for a moment and built up his courage said "Daphne I have a confession to make, which I should have done a long time ago. I am irreversibly and irrevocably in love with you, I have loved to the point of madness; that which is called madness, that which to me is perhaps the only sensible way to love. It took me a long time and losing you twice made me realize that and not wanting to waste any more time I drove all the way down here to place my heart, soul and mind in your heads". Daphne after hearing the words that she had wanted to hear for a long time couldn't stop crying, leapt towards Harry and kissed him soundly. They both came up for air after what seemed an eternity and Daphne said "I love you too, you loveable git". Harry felt elated never in his wildest dreams he would have foreseen this. Sure, he drove many a miles to confess but he didn't know what would have been Daphne's reaction. He had feared the worst but his fears were unfounded. The new lovers kept on looking into each other's eyes, drinking in the love they saw in them and not wanting to let go. Time seemed frozen for them and out the sun rose signifying a new and a new chapter in their lives


End file.
